Laws and the Constitution

The Title VI of the Federal Constitution covers Taxes and Budget.
The Title is divided in Sections, covering the following topics: general principles; limitations on the taxation power; Federal, State and municipality taxes; revenue sharing.

Article 146 determines that a supplementary law shall be issued to establish some other taxation guidelines; this law is important because it shall define important Besides the Constitution, the most important tax law in Brazil is Law 5.172, enacted on October 25th 1966, known as National Tax Code, commonly referred to as the CTN (Codigo Tributário Nacional).

In Federal level, another important piece of legislation is Decreto 70.235, which informs about the Administrative Tax Process (in Portuguese: PAF - Processo Administrativo Fiscal).
An Administrative Tax Process is opened when a taxpayer disagrees with any tax charge and places an appeal to the Receita Federal, the powerful federal revenues service. The appeal will be examined by one of the Court Offices of Receita, in accordance with the norms prescribed by Decree 70.235.
Notice that, at any time (before, during or after and administrative process), the taxpayer can also file an appeal to the Justice (starting then a judiciary process).

Other important federal laws

»Income Tax Rules. Individuals and corporations.
»Customs Rules. Importation and exportation.
»Industrial Products Rules.

State and municipal laws

States and municipalities have certain autonomy to create their own tax laws (there is no total autonomy, as they have to obey the Constitution and the CTN).
So, each State has its own ICMS regulation, and each large city has its own Building Tax regulations.
To learn more about each legislation, visit the pages about States of Brazil and look for a link to the official State site.


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